Rainy Season

Right now is the rainy season in Japan. That means that it is cloudy or raining about half the time and hot and humid all the time. Even when it's cloudy or raining, it's pretty hot. My schools don't have air conditioning or, if they do, they don't use it. The offices all have a couple units, but they never turn it on while students are there. The result is I'm sweating all day long.

Japanese buildings are designed for the summer, at least they were before air conditioners. There are large doors and windows that allow a breeze to go through the entire house. Some really traditional houses can move or remove enough doors to function like a shelter with only a roof. In the winter, rooms are closed off and people stay in the most central room.

Schools are mostly the same. The rooms, at least where I am, don't have air conditioning. Many have fans, but they aren't allowed to turn them on before a certain date. There are large windows that are opened all year round to 'ventilate'. It's nice in the summer (at least, compared to roasting in a room with no breeze), but doesn't make for great insulation in the winter. Tile or linoleum floors (ie bathrooms) are often wet, covered in condensation from the hot summer air.

Sometimes it will rain really heavy and consistently for hours. The other night when I was going home in between rains I found a stowaway on my car: